Open Hood

Some days, I don't feel like wearing a veil. I just don't.

When looking at images of women from the late 14th and early 15th centuries,  I see many wearing open style hoods.  This style seemed a perfect option to wear during the summer instead of a veil. 

Detail of February (right) and July (left), Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.

I saw Edyth Miller's wonderful interpretation of this style and decided to try one for myself.  Edyth used the tutorial from LiaThornegge for her patterning, but I decided to start with my existing hood pattern.

I used a trial and error process to find the ideal shape. I cut out my classic hood pattern and pinned the pieces together.  I stood  in front of a mirror and adjusted the side gores, edges around the face, and center back seam in order to achieve the look of the hood that is seen in illuminations.  What I ended up with is a hood that has a shorter and less voluminous cape and an opening around the face that is longer so it can be folded back. 

Left: Classic Hood pattern          Right: Open Hood pattern

I designed the hood with a long tail similar to the image below.

Detail of Bible Historiale de Jean de Berry, folio 290r. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits, Français 20090

I decided to make this hood a single layer of linen to keep it as light weight as possible since I would be wearing it during the summer and its main purpose is to keep the sun off my face instead of a straw hat or veil.  I finished all the seams in black silk to hide the raw edges on the inside. I used the selvage edge for around the face so there wouldn't be a hemmed edge.

I used running stitches for the seams (outlined in red for visibility).

This hood is very comfortable to wear. I pin it to my St. Brigitta cap and it stays put very nicely and keeps the sun off my face. The edges don't flare as much as in the illuminations, but it it was lined or made of a stiffer fabric it would hold a shape better.

After I finished, I found this image of an open hood with buttons! 

Boccaccio: Decameron c.1414-1419 Manuscript (Pal. lat. 1989), Biblioteca Apostolica, Vatican, Image courtesy of the Web Gallery of Art.

Pattens after Pennsic

I made a pair of pattens last year.  I wore them a couple times last summer, but they really had their work cut out for them this Pennsic War.   

The weather over the week varied widely and there was a lot of walking on gravel, grass, mud, and pavement. 

Pattens in pristine condition, March 2013

Pattens after 1 week of Pennsic, August 2014

The nails on the hinge of the right foot started to pull out and I did lose one nail (red arrow in photo above).  I think it might be due to the tacks being too short, but I originally chose that length since I was worried longer nails would cause the wood to split.  I also noticed small cracks have developed along the edge of the wood where the tacks are located. We will see if additional wear causes the cracks to expand.

Closeup of right foot.

Bottom of patten with small cracks developing.

I also felt the leather strap around my ankle is stretching a bit, but it didn't affect my walking. The leather strip around the sides of the pattens also stretched, especially around the hinge area, but it had no impact on my walking, either.

I am planning on replacing the missing nail with one that is a bit longer to see if that holds the hinge in place.  If it works well, I may decide to replace additional nails.

Shortly after I made these pattens, I was speaking with someone (I just can't remember who!) and they pointed out that the London finds had been worn and the wood base would have been thicker on new pattens.  This observation seems painfully obvious now, but hindsight is 20/20!  If I have more problems with the wooden bases, I will replace them with a thicker wood to more accurately replicate new pattens, which will also allow me to use longer nails to hold the leather.

Overall,  I am very pleased with how they held up! Having limited leather and woodworking experience, I was curious to see how they lasted with a real workout. I call this a success! 

Baronial Hoods

A few months ago I made hoods for friends that were invested as Baron and Baroness of their local SCA group.  Hoods are one of my favorite go-to accessories to make an outfit complete -- and warm, too!

I made 2 black linen hoods, one with a long liripipe, one without.  The baronial arms are a felt applique livery badge.

The pattern I use for all my hoods originally came from Cynthia Virtue's website, How to be a Hoodlum.  I have used this basic pattern over the years, altering it as needed for size and style. 

Below is how I arranged the pattern pieces for the hood without a liripipe.  

This is how the triangular gore fits with the main hood piece.  I always end up making the gore extra long, but I'd rather trim it than cut it too short. 

I appliqued the Baronial arms to a round felt base by couching around the pieces with matching thread.  I also used couching to secure the badge to the hood.

Some of my earlier hoods had the gore set too far forward, but I adjusted where I set them and am pleased with the results - directly over the shoulders!

A Tablet Woven Headband - Progress

This project required I exercise my horribly rusty tablet weaving skills.  I mean rusty.  I only have very basic knowledge to begin with and the last thing I wove was…. let's just say years ago.  

I am in desperate need of a silk headband - or filet - or circlet - or whichever word you fancy.  I keep seeing beautiful examples of headbands (like here, here, and here) and I wanted to join the club.  And besides, any fashionable lady would have one, right ?

This lady is so fashionable, she even has a medieval glam fan. ;-)
Grandes Heures de Jean de Berry, f48r.  

Bibliothèque nationale de France

My plan was to follow the pattern outlined in Textiles and Clothing: 1150-1450 for item number 142 (Crowfoot, Pritchard, and Staniland, pg. 132).  This example was found with a piece of fake hair attached. The band is about 1cm wide and made from 26 cards, the center 22 threaded with 2 threads and woven in a plain weave.  The 2 cards on each end are threaded with 4 threads to form a border.

Textiles and Clothing: 1150-1450, pg 132. Silk filet with false hair attached.

I normally would use a filament silk, but since I didn't want to waste a lot of thread on my first attempt, I chose to use Gütermann spun silk in black.   It is much less expensive and since it is more tightly spun, I figured it would hold up better against wear from rotating the cards.

I measured around my head and then added 18 inches for waste for the length of the warp.  Since the only tools I have designed for tablet weaving are the cards, I had to improvise for a warping board and loom.  I used Linda Hendrickson's method shown here to wind a continuous warp.  And that was my first error.  I was so excited to be winding away that I threaded all the cards with 4 threads.  Oops.   I realized this after I had the warp complete and all tied up ready to start weaving.  Of course this was my second warp, since the first was attacked by my "helpers."  

The group of 4 cards in the foreground are for the border.

At this point I made the executive decision to continue with the cards threaded as they were and see what happened.  At least it would give me practice. 

The original pattern had the center cards being rotated a 1/4 turn back and then 1/4 turn forward to make the tabby weave.  Since my cards had 4 holes, in order for all the threads to be caught in the weave, I had to turn the cards 1/2 turn. 

What I have now is:

Above: Close-up of No. 142 from Textiles and Clothing.

Despite mis-threading the cards, my piece is similar to the original in appearance and dimensions (about 1cm wide). I call that a win! I am about halfway done with the weaving.  This project is teaching me a lot about keeping tension even.  And I am yearning for a loom of some sort.  Maybe a medieval one like this:

Grandes Heures de Jean de Berry, f34r.  

Bibliothèque nationale de France

After the weaving is complete, I may cover the back in leather like Neulakko to help keep sweat from damaging the silk.  I am still deciding what decoration to add to the band.  I'm thinking small pewter bezants or maybe pearls.  I also am debating leaving it plain like the one here:

Portrait of Lysbeth van Duvenvoorde, anoniem, c. 1430.
Rijksmuseum, No. SK-C-1454

 Back to weaving for me! I can't wait to show you the finished product!

How to Make a Fingerloop Lace

I need to make several laces for a project I'm working on - more on that soon - so I thought I would share how I make a basic fingerlooped lace.  I've included a bit of history on fingerloop braids followed by a tutorial to help guide you in making your own.  

Extant fingerloop braids can bee seen in artifacts from excavations from London as well as the on strings of reliquary purses. 

Fingerloop braids of 10 loops (left) and 14 loops (right), 13th and 14th centuries.
Although these examples are more than 5 loops, several examples have been found from the excavations in London made of 5 loops, all dated to the 14th century. 
Museum of London: Textiles and Clothing, pg139

Reliquary purse with multi-colored fingerloop cord, Italy, 15th century.
Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage #10069247, © KIK-IRPA, Brussels

I use a round lace made of 5 loops for the majority of my needs.  I find that this style is easy to learn, easy to execute, versatile, and strong. I make my laces of silk and they withstand a great deal of pressure in my fitted dresses.   The only lace I have broken - so far - was one I accidentally left in a dress and then ran it through the washing machine.  The spin cycle was too much and it broke in half. :-( 

The downside of using finger loops to make a lace is you need to complete the lace in one sitting.  If you put the loops down, they get mixed up easily.  I suppose you could create a rig to keep the loops from getting  tangled,  but I haven't found a good solution (if you have let me know!).   

This style of lace is described in a 15th century braiding manual (Directions for making many sorts of laces - MS Harley 2320) as a 'Lace common round of 5 bows.'  When originally researching this pattern, I found several places online that have the original wording and good translations including: Wire'n String, Silkwerk, and Fingerloop.org. 

I have included the transcription of the pattern I use from Wire'n String in this post for comparison, but if you are interested in more information about medieval fingerloop patterns, I highly recommend the above sites. 

For to make a round lace of v bowys: Do v bowys on þy fyngres as þu dedyst in þe brode lace. Þen schal A ryght take þorow B and C of þe same hond þe bowe C of þe lyfte hond reuersyd. Þen lowe þy lyfte bowys. Þen schal A lyft take þorow B and C of þe same hond þe bowe C of þe ryȝth hond reuerced. Þen lowe þy ryȝth bowys, & begyn aȝen.

I used trial and error to find my formula to determine the length of my loops.  I double the measurement of my desired finished length and then add the measurement of my finished braid on again for waste and to allow for shrinkage from braiding. It works out to:

Finished length of lace = A
(A x 2) + A = length of thread for one loop

For this lace my calculations are (in inches):
Finished length of lace = 14
14 x 2 = 28 + 14 = 42 inches for one loop

Cut 5 lengths of thread from using the above formula and form 5 loops.  Line them up and tie a knot in one end:

Then tie the loops around a dowel (like a table leg or chair). I use a piece of basic cotton cord to affix the loops to the table:

For this pattern, take one loop each on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fingers on your left hand and the 2nd and 3rd fingers on your right hand:

Sometimes untangling the loops is a but difficult, but if you can't get it perfect don't worry. I rarely get them all perfectly arranged, but once you get going the pattern will work out and you can retie the beginning when you are finished if needed to clean it up.

To work the pattern passing the 1st finger of your right hand through the loops on the other fingers of your right hand, grab the bottom half of the bottom loop on your left hand:

You now have 3 loops on your right hand and 2 on your left:

Move the loops on your left hand down so they  are on the 2nd and 3rd fingers. This will be the mirror image of your original starting position.  After each pass, I swing my hands outward to create tension in the braid.  Repeat the above step with your left hand until you reach your desired length. 

Remain watchful for mischievous helpers!

The finished product:

Once you have your lace, you can add metal aiglets to the ends.  These make it easy to feed the lace through eyelets. I purchased these aiglets from Historic Enterprises and they have a small hole so you can sew the aiglets to the lace. Shhh, I have been known to use a drop of Krazy glue to keep the lace from pulling out!

.

This lace was a prototype for my current project. I decided it turned out too thin, so I either will use a thicker thread or try doubling up the loops.  

Embroidered Purse

I recently entered the Ice Dragon Pentathlon Arts and Sciences competition in the Kingdom of AEthelmearc.  I decided to summarize my entries in the next few posts.  I'll post links to the complete documentation at the end of each post.  

This pouch is modeled after several reliquary pouches from the late 14^th and early 15^th centuries embroidered in brick stitch.  These pouches are mostly traced to production in areas now part of modern Germany, however, some are labeled as originating in Italy.

Reliquary bags were used throughout the medieval period to store various relics reputedly from saints, apostles, or other religious figures.  These bags might be kept individually or stored inside small altars or ornate crafted reliquaries, as seen in the portable alter commissioned by Countess Gertrude of Braunschweig from Lower Saxony ca. 1045.

Although modeled after religious devotional items, this pouch was created for a secular purpose.  Cloth purses are seen in many medieval manuscripts in the late 14^th and early 15^th century.  Most are in use by women, often worn between the layers of her clothing. The style of these purses is consistent with the extant examples of reliquary pouches: a small drawstring bag with tassels and a string to hang (presumably from a belt).  Pouches in illuminations often appear to be of a solid color with no embroidered pattern and several examples from excavations in London reveal pouches made of patterned material, but no embroidery.  Despite these unadorned examples, it can be surmised that women of means would possess pouches with rich decoration similar to alms purses from earlier in the 14^th century decorated in the Opus Anglicanum technique.

Examples of women with small drawstring purses from the Tacuinum Sanitatis

Design

I took initial inspiration for this pouch from an extent example in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).  Master Richard Wymarc (m.k.a.  Timothy J. Mitchell) has already recreated this bag and I used his resource, “A Stitch Out of Time: 14th and 15th Century German Counted Thread Embroidery” as a starting point for my piece.  As the author was fortunate enough to view the piece up close, I relied on his observations for some design decisions.

My inspiration pieces: from the V&A (top) and the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (bottom)

I chose to keep the original dimensions of the pouch (approx. 3 3/8 inches square).  I wanted to use the same pattern of German Brick Stitch, but chose to alter the color combination to match the colors of my husband’s SCA heraldry.  I kept the green and the white the same, but changed the original areas of blue to black, and red to yellow.  I did not want the yellow to be washed out next to the white and chose a bright yellow that would give enough contrast in the finished piece.

Although this piece in the V&A does not include a drawstring, there are holes in the upper band indicating the presence of a drawstring originally.  I wanted to include a drawstring and a cord to hang the pouch from a belt similar to another example in the V&A.   My final design of the cords and tassels came from an example in the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (RICH) in Brussels (Object #10152670).  This example shows a hanging cord, separate drawstrings with small tassels, and two multi-colored tassels at the bottom corners.  The catalog image also gives a very detailed view of the side seam construction.

Materials

The examples in museum collections indicate a linen ground for the embroidery.   I chose tightly woven white linen (Alba Maxima) that is close to even weave, but not marketed as such.  I used white because I did not want a darker color to show through the white linen embroidery thread. 

For the white embroidery, I chose white 100/3 linen thread.  This thread is a fine even spin that has a similar thickness to the silk embroidery thread used in the piece.  For the colored embroidery, I selected to use Au ver à soie Ovale flat silk thread in yellow, black, and green.  This type of silk is known as a reeled or filament silk thread.  It is not tightly spun and as a result, I could cover a larger area without the ground showing through.  It also gives a luxurious sheen to the piece.

There is little information about the linings of extant purses other than the material being silk.  In some cases, this is because the lining has not survived.  I chose to line the pouch in red damask silk.  

The Turk’s Head knots are made from silk gimp, a type of cord.  I made the gimp following a tutorial from Medieval Silkwork.  The core is three strands of natural colored linen thread and I wound yellow silk around it until I had a length of about 50 cm.  This gave me enough cord to form two small Turk’s Head Knots.

Construction

Bags of this type were typically one piece, with the front and back embroidered as a seamless unit and then folded along what becomes a side of the pouch.   I chose to have the fold for this bag along the bottom for visual symmetry. 

I used a rectangular embroidery frame to hold the fabric at an even tension.  

The embroidery was completed using the technique for brick stitch as described by Mitchell in Section 2: Recreating the Style.  From his close examination of the extant pieces, he has determined the most likely course of the thread by the grouping of warp and weft in the ground fabric.  

I worked the white linen embroidery first and then filled in the colored silk sections.

After completing the embroidery, I attached the silk lining.  I decided to sew the long edges and form a tube of the lining and embroidery.  I then turned it right side out and folded the bag horizontally along the center line.  This placed the raw edges at the mouth of the bag and provided a clean side seam.

I finished the seams using a technique originally described on the blog MedievalSilkwork by Machteld.  I chose to use both yellow and green thread for this technique and integrated the ends into the tassels at the bottom corners.  

The original bag has a strip of fabric around the top edge and I chose to use a strip of white linen matching the ground fabric and linen embroidery.  By comparing the total measurement of the pouch with the percentage of space the strip takes up, I determined it was at its widest 1/2 inch and at its narrowest 5/16 inch.  I chose to make my border 1/4 inch wide.  I attached this strip after I completed the side seams and attached the purse strings.  This concealed the raw ends under the linen and creates a neat appearance.  This border has no eyelets for the drawstring, which is simply threaded through holes made with an awl.  This is by design and is consistent with the extant examples from the V&A as well as the RICH.

Inside of pouch before the white strip is added to the top - in this image the purse hanger is tucked inside after being sewn to the inside edges.

The drawstring and cord were constructed from finger loop braiding.  I used green silk to make the cords:  a smaller round braid for the drawstrings and a wider flat braid for the purse string.   I made two sections of braids for the drawstring and wove them through the holes with the beginnings of the braids on opposite sides of the pouch.  When the two ends are pulled, the pouch closes easily. 

The tassels were constructed using a mix of green and yellow silk.  To construct the tassels I wound a strand of green and yellow simultaneously around a card until I reached the desired thickness.  I then tied a piece of green silk through the top of the cluster of threads and cut the loops that formed at one end.  A piece of white linen was used to tie the center of the tassel.  The tassels were then threaded through the corners of the pouch and tied off on the inside.  Another piece of white linen was used to tie the center of the tassel in order to integrate the ends of the thread from the side seams.

The knots are Turk’s Head Knots are constructed from the yellow silk gimp.  I used an online visual tutorial to begin the knots using a piece of card as the support.  I then worked them with my fingers to the desired size.

As in any large project, I would do several things differently. Here are a few:

Being a novice embroiderer, the back of the work was not as neat as I would have liked. At times, I had to double back if I missed a spot.

The flat braid I used for the purse hanger is not as flat as desired even after several attempts. There are several mistakes I noticed in the braid, which contributes to the braid rolling, but this was by far my best attempt with regard to tension.

I am pleased with how the Turk’s Head knots turned out, but working them down to the desired size from the initial card support was frustrating and time consuming. I ultimately decided to leave them off the drawstring, because I could not make them small enough to keep from slipping off the cord. I plan to attempt these knots in the future in order to find an easier way to make them small enough.

Bibliography

Literary

Luisa Cogliati Arano, The Medieval Health Handbook: Tacuinum Sanitatis, (New York: George Braziller) 1976.

Elisabeth Crowfoot, Frances Pritchard, and Kay Staniland, Medieval Finds from Excavations in London : 4 Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450, (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press) 2002.

Geoff Egan and Frances Pritchard, Medieval Finds from Excavations in London : 4 Dress Accessories 1150-1450, (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press) 2002.

Tasha Dandelion Kelly, La cotte simple, http://cottesimple.com/.

Timothy J. Mitchell, “A Stitch Out of Time: 14th and 15th Century German Counted ThreadEmbroidery,” accessed December 5, 2012, http://wymarc.com/asoot/asoot.php.

Medieval Silkewerk, accessed March 7, 2013, http://www.silkewerk.com/.

Medieval Silkwork, accessed November 10, 2012, http://m-silkwork.blogspot.com/.

“Treasures ofHeaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe,” accessed February 16, 2013. http://learn.columbia.edu/treasuresofheaven/.

“Turk’s HeadKnot,” accessed March 2, 2013, http://www.animatedknots.com/turkshead/.

Objects

Bag, 14thcentury, linen embroidered in silk, 14.5 cm x 12.5 cm, Object # 8313-1863, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, accessed January 9, 2013, http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115592/bag-unknown/.

Bag, 14thcentury, linen embroidered in silk, Object # 8699-1863, Victoria & Albert Museum, London,  accessed January 9, 2013, http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O144713/bag-unknown/.

Bourse-reliquaire, 10 cm x 10 cm, Object # 10069247, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Brussels, accessed March 1, 2013, http://www.kikirpa.be/EN/45/63/Photolibrary.htm.

Bourse-reliquaire, 7 cm x 7 cm, Object # 10152662, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Brussels, accessed March 1, 2013, http://www.kikirpa.be/EN/45/63/Photolibrary.htm.

Bourse-reliquaire, 7 cm x 7 cm, Object # 10152670, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Brussels, accessed March 1, 2013, http://www.kikirpa.be/EN/45/63/Photolibrary.htm.

Link to the complete documentation in PDF:

Embroidered Purse